An arc welding robot for automatically performing arc welding using an industrial robot has been researched and developed. This arc welding robot carries out arc welding automatically by weaving a welding torch mounted at a hand portion of the robot along a weld line of a base metal (weld member).
To this end, patterns for movement of the welding torch are previously stored to memory unit of the robot, the user selects a suitable weaving pattern from the stored pattern, and the arc welding is carried out in accordance with the selected weaving pattern. However, in the conventional control method for the arc welding robot, weaving patterns which can be used by the user are limited to the basic weaving patterns which are previously stored in the arc welding robot. Therefore, it is difficult to carry out arc welding by weaving the welding torch in accordance with a weaving pattern suitable for a shape and a material of each base metal.